Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday of the year. It comes at that perfect fall moment when the leaves are brilliantly colored and the air is refreshingly crisp. Ghosts, witches and pumpkins are suddenly everywhere, plastered over store windows and hanging from trees. It’s a night to dress up, eat an inordinate amount of candy and party down. Good, clean fun. Right?
Over the years, especially in college, I have noticed something strange happening to Halloween. When I was in elementary school, my friends and I would start on our costumes a month before the actual holiday. We wanted to be unique and creative, wanted to seize the chance to be something completely different. Each year had to top the last. At that young, innocent, excited age, Halloween was all about the costumes and the candy. The running around at night with friends, dressed as Cleopatra or a Cheerios box, singing the latest pop song very loudly (and in four different keys) and toting a UNICEF bag and a hollow plastic jack o’ lantern made Halloween the best night of the year.
In college, however, Halloween takes on a whole new meaning. Where there were bowls of candy and funny rather than spooky ghost decorations, there are Jell-O shots and giant, crazy parties.
And the costumes.oh, the costumes. College students don’t seem to really get into costumes anymore. Well, more like they just don’t wear clothes. Somewhere along the path between trick-or-treating and deciding on a major, Halloween has become an excuse to wear as little clothing as possible-and to a somewhat ridiculous extent.
Let’s think. Bauhaus, the huge Halloween party put on by the Architecture school every year, takes place outside. And this is outside, at night, at the end of October, mind you. The temperature is usually around 40 degrees. There is a tent, but there is nothing to heat it, save the crush of dancing students. So, if you are dressed to the bare minimum, say in a bra or boxers or nothing save body paint, you are going to be, well, freezing your ass off. Yes, alcohol in certain amounts purportedly enables the drinker to not feel cold, but that just lends itself to a new host of complications. Frostbite, anyone?
Now I am not against wearing underwear as a costume. I am always up for some Rocky Horror-type action-movie, costumes and all. And, a few years ago, a friend of mine went to Bauhaus dressed as Mystique from X-Men. Nothing but layers and layers of blue latex body paint. And she looked fantastic, if a little chilly.
The point is (besides being ridiculously cold) that as costumes have become more revealing, their purpose as costumes has all but disappeared. The best part of Halloween has disappeared. Where has our creativity gone? This is a campus of intelligent, passionate people. I know we can do better. And if you are insistent on still wearing nothing but your skivvies, then at least make them furry and go as Tarzan. Or Jane, as the case may be.
Dressing up on Halloween should be fun. What other time can you walk around with zebra stripes on your face and have it be considered completely normal? Take advantage of the opportunity. After all, this chance only comes once a year. As for me, I think I am going to be a superhero. Bed-sheet cape and all.
Michelle is a senior in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].